So difficult that it prompted that headstock change at USA (not at Custom Shop where a Historic Reissue is a Historic Reissue) and eventually let to the *temporary* discontinuation of it and the Thunderbird as you said. It too was a commercial success, even moreso given the ability to fill an order book efficiently.Ĭut to today. The Non-Reverse Firebird took its place as a much easier-to-build model with the classic set neck construction. When all was said and done, the original style Firebirds and Thunderbirds were not made for more than two years. However players loved it and it was a commercial success, based on how many they were able to produce with such complexity. It impeded throughput and with the introduction of the Thunderbird bass, the factory literally had to rearrange how they channeled these extremely long models through production. Anyway with the length of wood required for the neck-through and the complexity of the build made the model the scourge of the factory. They hadn't done anything like it, and the 9-ply centerpiece came about after two-piece centerpieces literally came apart. Great questions! So a bit of historical context here.the original style Firebird (reverse) was designed outside of Gibson (by Ray Dietrich but you know this) in 1962 and it was up to Larry Allers and his team to figure out how to build the thing. If the Firebird will continue to be a regular USA production model in 2022 and beyond, any chance one of the finishes would be White? What can you tell us about that? Additionally, how were the finish choices selected for the recent Birds, going back to say 2015? One year only Ebony, other years, Vintage Sunburst and a custom color. Rumor floating around that they are going to be discontinued. My question pertains to USA Production Firebirds. Here is part of my original question and his reply to my question about Firebirds being discontinued. Mat works in Product Development for Gibson. The name of the Gibson guy I mentioned in my previous post is Mat Koehler. To further explain, the following post came from The Les Paul Forum. The same employee said that the reverse models will come back in a couple of years. They are going to bring out a USA production non reverse Firebird, most likely in 2022. The word from a Gibson employee is that the reverse Firebirds are temporarily being discontinued. The ceramic pickups in the older Birds are actually great pickups if you take the time to dial them in with your amp settings, tweak your OD pedals and finally, USE YOUR TONE CONTROLS!!! If you want to go used, great, you'll find something out there below 2K, but not much below. Years ago, I had 8 Historic Les Pauls when they were very reasonably priced, but they are gone now. I am a man on the dreaded retired fixed income and realistically, I can't afford a Custom Shop anything, but I'm ok with that. Certainly, there are used Custom Shop Birds out there and they sell for decent prices. The Kauer is a great guitar but they are going in the mid 4's last time I looked. Let's face it, Gibson Custom shop guitars, any model are seriously overpriced. I have played several and they are very true to the originals. Additionally, the Custom Shop Birds are excellent guitars. Do not close your thinking towards the 2021 Gibson Bird. I also have an 02, 09 and 17 with traditional carved headstock and banjos. I have no problem with the flat headstock, I've got a 2019 FB I and one of the Epiphone Inspired by Gibsons Birds and it's cool. Obviously, the flat headstock is aimed at cutting production costs and many people don't like banjos. Lamar, with all due respect, there were Firebirds built in the 1965 year with flat headstocks. Are they unaware that Kauer makes a much better bird, or is Gibson trying to take some of that market back with their Murphys Oil Lab? I'm a Gibson man, but I don't see Gibson making a guitar better than the Banshee, and definitely not for $3,000. I see that Gibson is focusing heavily on the Custom Shop Firebirds. Off to the used market it is.Īs an aside. Bad pickups can be swapped, a bad headstock design cannot be swapped. But like a few others noted, they screwed up with the new "Inspired by Epiphone" headstock on a $2,000 guitar. Musicians Friend says that the 2021 Gibson USA Firebird will be available in July.
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